Xylitol - Annie's Story - continued

In my last post, I started sharing the story of when Annie got a hold of some sugarless gum. She is ok because I took action right away. As promised, here is the rest of the story.

But before I start let me give you some facts about xylitol. According to vcahospitals.com, 50 milligrams per pound of body weight is enough to cause hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. The more the dog ingests the more likely that they can experience liver failure. In dogs, xylitol causes a rapid release of insulin which in turn causes the rapid reduction of blood sugar. And xylitol is absorbed into a dog bloodstream quickly; in 10 to 60 minutes. The type of gum that Annie ate was Trident. There is about 170 milligrams of xylitol in one piece of Trident gum. Annie weighs about 6 pounds so about 300 milligrams would have been her limit. Annie would have had to have eaten less than 2 pieces of Trident gum to have serious symptoms of xylitol poisoning. 

Read more about the symptoms of xylitol poisoning in dogs here. 

Read more about how much xylitol is in gum here.

Okay back to the story, I had no way of knowing how much gum she had eaten but there was a trail of gum wrappers all through our living room and leading into a bedroom where Annie was under the bed and would growl at me every time I got near her as if I were trying to take away her favorite toy. 

Yorkie's can be so temperamental, especially when someone tries to take something from them. And anytime Annie has something and sees that someone else wants it, she just get even more determined not to let it go. 

But Annie has a big weakness.....food! The girl just loves food and especially people food. We are careful of what we give her though. But we often keep some chicken in the frig just for Annie. Only this time, the chicken wasn't cut up. It was an entire chicken breast and I knew that I didn't have much time. 

I was in panic mode and Annie had the advantage in our battle over the gum. I ran into the bedroom with the entire chicken breast. Annie came out from under the bed and quickly snatched the entire chicken breast out of my hand and ran back under the bed. There was only one thing to do, take the bed apart and quick. So in a marathon effort I did just that. Within minutes I had the bed apart and Annie in a pen where she couldn't escape. 

Next I called our vet. The vet was with another patient so I talked to a veterinary assistant who said to give Annie hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. She informed me that I only had a short time to do this. And that I had to give it to Annie because there would not be enough time for me to get Annie to the vet hospital. Luckily, we had a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on our medicine shelf. I grabbed a syringe from the kids medicine shelf. 

I stood over Annie's pen for a moment thinking how I hated so much to have to do this to little Annie and then I gave it to her. Well, the hydrogen peroxide worked after a few seconds and Annie never showed any symptoms of xylitol poisoning. 

After looking at the number of empty wrappers, I'm certain that if I had not taken action quickly, Annie would have been poisoned by xylitol. If you have saved your pet from xylitol or any other dangerous substances, share your stories in the comment section. I'm looking forward to reading them.

Now I'm off to go give Annie a hug.

Thanks for reading my blog.
Lisa

Did you know that Xylitol is deadly to dogs, especially Yorkies?

Yes, little Princess Annie got into some sugar free gum that was sweetened with xylitol. Xylitol is commonly used to sweeten gum. And my daughter and I had just gotten back from a long band trip on a chartered bus where they gave us some gum. It was in my purse and Annie found it. Annie must have liked it very much because by the time I noticed that she had it; there were bits and pieces of partially chewed gum wrappers all over our living room. Naturally, I panicked. But I saved her and I'll tell you how on my next post.

Thanks for stopping by and please check out our etsy store to see our beautiful dresses, harnesses and leashes for small dogs at www.etsy.com/shop/PrincessAnniesPetBtq

Until next post,
Lisa

Hello Everyone,
I'm so happy you stopped by Princess Annie's new blog. We are working on some exciting stuff to post here. Our house is home to both cats and dogs, we have two of each. And we want to share tons of information about raising them, loving them and sharing life with them. We are working on lots of fun topics such as how to make treats that pets love, toys that give our pets lots of fun time, what pets love and hate as well as information about keeping our pets healthy.

Did you know that little Annie had luxating patella surgery a few months ago? Its where the knee cap dislocates and moves out of its normal position. It can cause our sweet babies to walk and/or run funny and increases their chances of getting arthritis as they age. So soon we'll provide information about luxating patella that we hope might help others who face this genetic disorder. Annie is doing absolutely wonderful now, by the way.

So check back soon. We plan to make a new post weekly.

Oh and don't forget to check out our very own Princess Annie's Pet Boutique on Etsy.

Hug your pet.
Lisa